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Cura x Cura

Jiu Cai Zi韭菜子

Semen Allii Tuberosi · Chinese Chive Seed · Garlic Chive Seed

Herbs that Tonify the Yang 补阳药《名医别录》

Overview

The small black ripe seed of the Chinese chive — the same plant eaten as, here used for its warming, consolidating effect on the lower burner. Acrid, sweet and warm, it enters the Liver and Kidney to strengthen yang and, at the same time, to hold in what is leaking: it is one of the herbs written into prescriptions for impotence, seminal emission and dribbling urine, where the problem is cold and slack rather than obstructed. Its double action — warming and astringing at once — is what earns it a place alongside more famous yang tonics.

Nature & Flavor

Acrid, sweet · Warm

Channels

Kidney · Liver

Typical Dosage

3–9 g in decoction
韭菜子Photography for this entry is on its way.

Actions

4 core actions

  • Warms and supplements Liver and KidneyCold, aching lower back and knees, cold limbs and lassitude on a background of Kidney-yang emptiness.
  • Strengthens yang, secures essenceImpotence, premature or involuntary seminal emission, and vaginal discharge that is thin, clear and copious.
  • Restrains urineFrequent night urination, dribbling and bedwetting of the cold-deficient type, in which the bladder is not being held closed.
  • Kitchen and dispensaryThe plant is a common vegetable and the seed is often taken as a simple powder at home; the medicinal seed is the ripe dried fruit, not the fresh leaf.

In Formulas

Formulas containing Jiu Cai Zi

No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.

Indications & Clinical Uses

  • Impotence and seminal emission of Kidney-yang deficiency
    - Cold aching lower back and knees
    - Frequent or night-time urination, enuresis, dribbling
    - Thin clear vaginal discharge of the cold-deficient type

Western Medical Keywords

Searchable condition terms

Erectile dysfunctionNocturiaEnuresisLow back pain

Contraindications

Cautions

Warm and drying: it is wrong for yin deficiency with flaring heat — night sweats, five-centre heat, a red tongue with little coating — and it should not be given where there is damp-heat in the lower burner with burning urination, which it will aggravate. Anyone with a known allergy to onion-family plants should avoid it.

Contraindicated in pregnancy: Not used during pregnancy — it is a warming, yang-strengthening seed prescribed for the depleted lower burner outside of gestation.

For licensed practitioners’ reference only

References

  1. Ming Yi Bie Lu《名医别录》(classical source, public domain).
    2. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
    3. 《中华人民共和国药典》.

Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.